A 19-year-old Bainbridge man has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with a November 2014 wreck in Decatur County, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
John Wesley Goodman, 19, of 139 Wingate Road, Bainbridge, is being held at the Decatur County Jail. The accident he faces charges in connection with happened on November 26, 2014 on Georgia Highway 302, near the Georgia / Florida border in Decatur County, according to a GSP accident report.
26-year-old Bonifacio Bautista of Green Shade Road, Bainbridge, was killed in the accident, according to a report filed by State Trooper First Class Brian Palmer of the State Patrol’s Colquitt, Ga., post.
According to the accident report, the crash happened at about 1:45 p.m. on November 26, 2014. Goodman was driving a 2000 Lincoln Continental southbound on Georgia Highway 302 when he crossed over into the northbound lanes and collided with a van traveling northbound. Based on his investigation of the crash and observing roadway evidence, Trooper Palmer wrote he believed Goodman was driving on the wrong side of the road when the accident happened.
The driver of the van, 47-year-old Marvin Yaneth Perez-Lopez, of Green Shade Road, Bainbridge, was not seriously injured but her passenger, Bonifacio Bautista, was trapped in the van and passed away at the scene of the wreck.
Bautista was wearing his seat belt and a passenger side air bag deployed, according to the accident report. Goodman and Perez-Lopez were also wearing their seat belts.
Goodman had to be extricated from his car by Gadsden County (Fla.) Fire and Rescue. He was taken by ambulance to Tallahassee (Fla.) Memorial Hospital. Trooper Palmer spoke with Goodman at the emergency room. According to Trooper Palmer, Goodman’s eyes were bloodshot and his breath had an odor the state trooper believed to be burnt marijuana. Goodman admitted to Palmer that he had smoked marijuana earlier that day, and a blood sample was taken at the hospital. The sample was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab and came back positive for marijuana, according to an incident report filed by Palmer.
After the Georgia State Patrol post in Colquitt, Ga., issued a warrant for Goodman’s arrest, Decatur County Sheriff’s deputies worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to arrange for Goodman to be taken into custody in Boca Raton, Fla., where he was living, according to Sheriff’s Investigator Brian Donalson. Goodman was booked into the Palm Beach County (Fla.) Jail on April 22 and was transported to the Decatur County Jail on May 2, according to jail records.
Goodman was involved in another serious vehicle accident earlier in 2014, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Goodman was reportedly seriously injured on July 4, 2014 on U.S. Highway 90 in Chattahoochee, Fla. According to the FHP accident report, Goodman was attempting to cross over the highway on foot just before 10 p.m. when a Ford Explorer approached. The driver of the SUV attempted evasive action, but was unable to avoid striking Goodman, who sustained “incapacitating” injuries, according to the accident report.
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